


Slices of Life

by IndigoMay



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Jungle Fury, Power Rangers Mystic Force, Power Rangers S.P.D., Power Rangers Time Force
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-25
Updated: 2013-10-25
Packaged: 2017-12-30 10:21:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1017444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndigoMay/pseuds/IndigoMay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All four prompts filled, because why not.</p>
<p>Chapter One: Wherein Casey is a Ball of Stress, or: You Worry Too Much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [missmollyetc](https://archiveofourown.org/users/missmollyetc/gifts).



> Prompt: We get the idea, very briefly, in the beginning that Casey is considered lower ranked, or possibly less advanced, than the other Theo and Lily. I'd really like to see a story where they're working out how to relate to each other in the less structured world of Jungle Pizza.

What did RJ _mean_ by “we are all equals here”?

On one level, Casey got it, that they were all human beings and human beings were all equal and RJ was seriously Zen. But he was a _cub_. Theo and Lily had been training for _years_ and he was supposed to be their _Red Ranger_ and Casey had _no idea what he was doing_.

He’d understood back at the temple. He was an older recruit, and therefore on the level of children in their eyes. His job was to learn and do what everyone else said. Even Jarrod, who was an asshole, but really hadn’t deserved being possessed by an evil spirit bent on destroying Pai Zhua and probably the world as well.

But after they’d gotten the morphers, it all got a bit fuzzy. Everyone knew that Red Rangers were the leaders, so Casey had expected the Red to go to Theo. But it didn’t. It went to Casey. And Casey could handle just shouting orders in battle, whatever, they’d probably already be handling it by the time he shouted anyway. But when they were out of uniform…

RJ didn’t have a structure at JKP. He was the owner, they were the employees, sure, but RJ was a pretty casual boss and Casey’s main problem was that he had no idea how to act with Theo and Lily. He tried asking RJ, but all that got him was puzzling out Zen advice and running late for his shift.

Casey went down to the kitchen to help with the soon-to-be afternoon rush, and Lily was laughing in the kitchen. Theo was saying something that Casey couldn’t hear, but Lily responded as he came closer.

“Casey’s just as weirded out as we are,” Lily said. “Both of you are worrying too much about how to act. In this kitchen-” –and Casey heard a dull slap, probably dough against the counter- “-we’re all employees. We’re all making and serving pizza. Start with that. It doesn’t matter what Ranger color we are; we can still make the sauce and the dough and have Casey toss the dough.” “Why is Casey tossing the dough?”

“Because he’s the best at it. I don’t want to have to take a break to wash wet dough out of my hair again.”

“ _I_ could spin the dough.”

“But then either Casey or I would be working on the sauce, and you make that better.”

Casey hesitated just before entering and it _clicked_. What RJ had said and what Lily was saying mixed in his head and finally fell into place. This wasn’t the Pai Zhua temple. He was learning here, yeah, but he was also part of a team, a small team. The point wasn’t to have the entire temple running smoothly. The point was to get them all used to each other, trusting each other, because on the field, all they had was each other and Zords.

Casey could do that.

He walked into the kitchen and smiled. “Where do you need me?”

“You’re on dough spinning patrol,” Lily said smartly, pulling him over with her. “I’ve got the cheese and other ingredients and Theo’s got the sauce. Fran’s got the dough all kneaded and ready.”

“So we’re doing a conveyor belt?” Theo asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lily shrugged. “I think it’ll work. Every part working towards a whole and all that.”

Casey grinned, picking up the dough and starting to spin it. He could hear Lily and Theo bustling about and getting the ingredients ready.

Maybe they could all pull this off.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Z and Syd talk about promotions and the past. Sometimes you just need to get things off your chest, and who better than your best girl friend?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: I'd love a story based on their friendship and working relationship in SPD through the years if it sounds interesting to you, but if you want to work within the show's canon timeline, then I'm cool with that too.  
> As a reference, whenever I think of Z and Syd I always think of this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwPs2P2T5Kc

It was one year on their squad, and Sky was their Red. Z had declined her promotion in a momentary panic. Being Yellow had been her first moment of real home in _years_ , and she didn’t want to give that up. Even if Jack had left, which didn’t hurt (didn’t hurt at _all_ , Jack was a grown man, he could make his own decisions), Z liked the comfort of yellow.

Their squad had finally finished the last of the cleanup from the war. Sky had gone off to probably work out or practice shooting or maybe, _maybe_ , actually take a break and realize that the war was, you know, _over_. Bridge had gone back to base, and Z had almost gone with him, but Bridge had been giving her worried looks since Jack had left and _she didn’t need that_. So she went bar-hopping with Syd. Syd had her fruity cocktails and Z had cold beer. It was a great way to end the day.

“I’m glad you declined promotion,” Syd said, tapping her glass against Z’s. “Yellow isn’t my color at _all_.”

Z laughed, downing her beer in one go.

“Have you called Jack since he left?”

And there went her good mood. Z scowled and waved for another drink.

“Hey.” Syd put her hand on Z’s shoulder. “You’ve been sad and angry since he left. We all noticed- well, maybe not Sky, but Sky’s kinda dense. And I know you and Jack were practically siblings. Can I help?”

Z got her beer and downed it in one go. “Jack is a grown man. So he wants to go off with a woman that he’s never introduced me to and legally help the poor. So what?”

“You really would think that he’d be more cautious with new people,” Syd said, playing with her glass. “He met her while Grumm was still active, right? He didn’t worry about her being a brainwashed minion?”

“He was on the streets longer than I was,” Z said, looking away from Syd. “When I ran off from my last foster home, we met up. Trusted each other more than anything. We knew better than to trust pretty faces with interests that seemed to line up with ours.”

“And now he’s off being an idiot,” Syd said, nodding. “And he called all of us yesterday asking why you weren’t picking up.”

“He did?” Z found herself grinning.

“Yeah.” Syd nudged Z’s shoulder. “And then he tried to be subtle about asking us about everything we’d done since he left. He totally misses us. You the most, I think.”

“Thanks, Syd,” Z said, leaning into her friend’s shoulder. “You’re smarter than we give you credit for.” Syd laughed and called for another drink.

The next morning, after she got over her hangover, Z picked up her phone and dialed.

“Hey, sis,” Jack said, sounding relieved and happy. “Sky driven you to the ground yet?”

“We haven’t even had a week of him as Red, bro,” Z said, grinning. “And anyway, he can’t be nearly as bad as you were when Cruger went off-planet the first time.”

That is when she heard the air horn.

“I’m going to kill him,” Z swore, and hung up on Jack laughing his ass off.

* * *

 

It was five years on their squad, and Bridge was their Red. Z had taken the promotion, this time, and she looked pretty damn good in Green. Syd had declined again, and she still wore pink proudly, still kicked ass and looked fashionable while she did it.

“Why weren’t you and Sky Red and Blue when Jack and I joined?” Z asked after Bridge, Meg (who was beaming at her new blue uniform), and the new girl left the commons.

Syd looked up. “What?”

“Pink and Yellow are the lower ranks,” Z said, finishing her water and getting up to wash her cup. “And Jack and I were delinquents. I joined before him, so I was always going to be Yellow, but it makes more sense for Jack to be Pink. You, Sky, Bridge- you were the senior officers.

Syd looked at her drink. “Dru was supposed to be Yellow before he got shifted off. We were all pissed when we found out he was going somewhere else. Sky was supposed to be Red, and Jehan was supposed to be Blue. You haven’t met him. He got transferred to SPD Japan not long after we found out that Dru was being sent off.” Syd laughed. “We were falling apart before you guys joined. Jehan was the glue that kept us all together, and Dru managed to get Sky out of his shell.”

Z finished drying her cup and put it up on the shelf, processing what Syd had said. “So you kept Pink to keep the memories?”

“I kept Pink because I’m an airhead.” Z whirled at that statement to see Syd scowling down at her drink.

“ _What_?” Sure, Syd’s spoiled rich side showed, but she was plenty smart. It wasn’t much for books, but Syd was the best person on the squad with people. She could coax things out of a hostile witness, soothe a crying victim, and have a hardened criminal begging for mercy without touching him (granted, that was only the one time).

“I’m a model and singer,” Syd said. “Most people thought me joining SPD was a publicity stunt. Pink’s the color for the weakest member of the squad. The ditz. So it’s mine.”

“Hey.” Z sat down next to her friend, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Syd, seriously, you’re no airhead. Sure, you’re better with people than with numbers, but none of us got a suspect to talk by singing off-key for an hour straight.”

Syd laughed. “That was fun.”

“You’re not the weakest,” Z said, scooting close to her friend. “You’re one of the team’s cores.”

Syd smiled and leaned her head into Z’s shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I listened to the song, and then this...happened. I have no idea where most of this came from.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eric doesn't leave the private school. Wes is very happy about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: BOARDING SCHOOL FIC, PREP SCHOOL FIC, OH MY GOODNESS YES. Give me Wes trying so hard to be Eric's friend and Eric being the BIGGEST TSUNDERE EVER. :D Feel free to go AU and have Eric and Wes swear eternal friendship, go into the Marines, BE LIFE PARTNERS FOREVER AND THEN WHEN THE RANGERS COME THEY ALL KICK SO MUCH ASS.  
> You know. If you want.
> 
> ::coughs::

Wes had a good feeling about today. He had been learning the Rules of Eric for a while, and he had formed a core three rules: One, don’t offer anything to him unless done _extremely_ subtly; Eric took badly to “charity.” Two, act like no one else exists; their classmates were assholes and would try to exclude Eric if he gave them an opening. Three, don’t be the one to bring up anything outside of karate and school; even those were touchy subjects at best.

Wes had two of Eric’s favorite kind of soda and the day was warm. He sat next to Eric on the bench near the big tree and Eric pulled away, as usual. Wes just grinned and pulled out his textbook, working on his trig homework. Parabolas were the _worst_.

“That equation is for a vertical parabola,” Eric said, taking the extra soda.

“Thank you,” Wes said, erasing his graph and drawing the parabola again. The only difference in vertical or horizontal was switching around two variables, and Wes often mixed up which arrangement went with which parabola.

“Anderson keeps talking about the huge party he’s throwing,” Eric said, almost casually, and Wes grimaced. Anderson was an attention whore asshole who wanted to call himself friends with every son of people he deemed rich and powerful enough, and unfortunately, Wes was on that list. “Apparently you haven’t RSVP’d yet.”

“I told him to his face that I wasn’t going,” Wes said, rolling his eyes.

“Why not?”

Wes looked up, seeing Eric looking at the roof of the nearest classroom. “If he’s stupid enough not to invite the coolest guy in class-” –Wes deliberately nudged Eric to prove his point- “-then his party is _not_ somewhere I want to be.”

Wes totally saw a grin before Eric looked to the side. Win for him.

* * *

 

Joining the Marines had been one of the best ideas Eric had ever had. Wes was just glad he’d listened to him.

They’d gone on leave in Silver Hills, officially because he and Eric had nearly killed themselves in a peacekeeping mission, but in reality, it was because Wes’s dad heard about it this time (and it wasn’t _anything_ like Operation Infinite Reach; they hadn’t even broken any bones) and insisted that the _heir to his company_ be brought back under his control immediately. Command managed to poke his dad in the eye by sending Eric with him, and the other guys on the squad found it hilarious.

Wes was _bored_. The highlight of his day was getting run into by a hot woman wearing a weird outfit. Eric had gone off on his own, because Eric _absolutely hated_ being on leave for extended amounts of time. A day, a week, sure. Indefinite, _not so much_.

Wes walked into the apartment he was renting with Eric- because of course there wasn’t a Marine base in the entire state of Washington, _of course_ \- to find Eric getting his ass kicked by a dark-skinned woman in the same weird outfit as the woman that ran into Wes. There were two guys backing her up.

Naturally, Wes’s first response was to get the taller one in a choke hold. The guy jerked and tried to break free, but Wes kicked his leg and dropped him, pinning the guy with his foot.

“ _Hey_!” the woman that ran into Wes snapped, clapping her hands. “Katie, _enough_! Blond guy, let Lucas up. I was gone for _five minutes_!”

“I have absolutely no regrets,” the dark-skinned woman said, dropping stance. “Nice punching, by the way. You almost broke my nose. I like you.”

“The feeling’s not mutual,” Eric informed her. “Who the hell are you?”

“We’re Power Rangers.” The woman who ran into Wes said. “And we need _him_ -” –she jerked her thumb at Wes, and her tone was _weird_ \- “-to be the Red Ranger.”

“ _What_?” Wes and Eric both said at the same time.

As if the whole “so your descendent is dead and we’re from a thousand years in the future and you’re the only one who can fit this morpher and if you don’t take the job the city will be destroyed by a time-travelling crazy guy” thing wasn’t bad enough, this was the first time that Wes had gone on the battlefield without Eric at his side, and he _did not like it_.

Shit, Wes was now a Power Ranger with secret time-travelling teammates. This was going to be hell to explain to Command.

“Guess we managed to find _something_ good about being stuck on leave,” Eric said, rolling his eyes. “Seriously. _Time travel_. The guys will _never_ believe us.”

“The guys will never believe that only one of us has a morpher,” Wes said, making a face. “I want it on the record that I do _not_ like going onto the battlefield without you.”

“You just need me to cover your ass,” Eric said fondly, smirking.

Wes shoved Eric's shoulder, laughing.

* * *

 

The day Eric got the Quantum morpher was a great day. They had the mutants running in _seconds_. And then Katie claimed first spar. Wes and Lucas managed to get them slightly drunk first, so it was _hilarious_.

Wes’s father wasn’t so amused when he walked into his office to find that it had somehow been trashed. Thankfully, Lucas got to the phone first and bullshitted an alibi. Wes still wasn't exactly sure how Eric and Katie managed to break in when he and the other Rangers had been chasing after them. Jen promptly banned Eric and Katie getting drunk together without proper supervision.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a new team in town. Clearly they must be pranked by the veterans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Shenanigans. If Nick and Vida are not bros for life, I won't know what to do with myself. LET IT BE A THING THAT HAPPENS. Show them getting into trouble, getting OUT of trouble, going on tour as a DJ and her roadie and arguing-as-banter in the economy class on their way to Dubai, do whatever as long as they are bros who text each other horrible things and then giggle obnoxiously.

“This is a terrible idea and Maddie will kill us,” Nick said, waving his phone. “I brought beer.”

“It’s a brilliant idea and you know it,” Vida retorted, grinning. “There is absolutely no better way to spend an afternoon than trolling the new guys.”

“We _could_ teleport to San Angeles…” Nick said, taking out a beer and passing it to Vida. “But what exactly are we going to do?”

Vida grinned and yanked her bag out. Nick was _totally_ in.

* * *

 

It had taken a quick spell to get them to San Angeles, and then Nick and Vida got _busy_.

Vida finished spray-painting the mansion wall bright pink and popped the window open with a spell. Nick tossed up the bag and went back to spraying _POWER RANGERS ARE NOT INDIANA JONES_ on the driveway.

The first thing Vida did was reset the clock in the first room twenty minutes back. Then she went to the next one and set it twenty-five minutes ahead. By the time she was done, every clock in the ( _huge_ ) mansion was set a different amount of minutes forward or back.

She opened the front door. “I’ll do the fans if you do the food.”

“Done,” Nick said, coming in and putting the empty spray can in the bag and taking out the fake candy.

While Nick planted that in the kitchen, Vida used a flying spell to put mini-marshmallows on top of all the fans. She finished up the last one when she heard cars pulling into the driveway. Nick came into the room she was in and they both looked at each other. Then they ran like hell.

* * *

 

In hindsight, they should’ve used a spell. But running through the streets was a lot more fun, so this was still a win for them.

“In that bar!” Nick ordered, like they were on the battlefield again, and she followed him into a really busy bar. She managed to get to the bartender, but when she looked back, Nick had gotten caught on the dance floor. Vida decided to just order a drink and wait for Nick to get free, but then the new Blue guy came in.

Vida had to distract him before he saw Nick. So of course she punched the biggest guy in the bar.

Vida and Nick stumbled inside Vida and Maddie’s apartment, laughing. Nick had a black eye and Vida knew she’d have a ton of bruises in the morning, but it was _worth it_.

Maddie was waiting in the kitchen.

“Maddie!” Nick said happily, letting go of Vida and wrapping his arms around her sister.

“You came in late,” Maddie said, hugging Nick back. “Does this have anything to do with the phone call I got from Tommy Oliver?”

“Why was Tommy Oliver calling you?” Vida said, managing to sound casual, which was better than the total guilt face Nick had going on.

“ _Apparently_ two people went into the Overdrive base and wreaked havoc,” Maddie said, raising an eyebrow. “Something about spray paint and marshmallows and clocks gone wrong. And they couldn’t find the people behind it. They vanished like _magic_.”

“We have no regrets,” Nick said, wrapping closer to Maddie. “And trolling the new guys is a time-tested tradition.”

Maddie sighed and smiled at them, and Vida grinned cheekily at her twin sister. “How much did you laugh?”

“Too much,” Maddie admitted, grinning sheepishly. “You two corrupted each other and then corrupted me.”

Vida laughed, watching her twin sister and her brother from another mother hold each other. They were sweet.

She was _totally_ texting them about next week’s BDSM festival tomorrow morning and laughing her ass off when they freaked.

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to make a note that I have never worked at a pizza parlor and I have no idea how it works there. Also, Casey's stressing was based a lot off of my own thoughts. I have some...issues that are possibly anxiety-related.


End file.
